London: World champions South Africa have made a mammoth 12 changes to their starting side for Saturday’s match against England at Twickenham.
Only lock Eben Etzebeth, hooker Bongi Mbonambi and prop Ox Nche have retained their places in the side that kicked off last Sunday’s 32-15 win over Scotland, with Etzebeth playing the whole 80 minutes at Murrayfield.
Siya Kolisi returns to captain the team, who this year added the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship title to their back-to-back World Cup crowns, having come off the bench in Edinburgh.
South Africa’s matchday 23 includes a whole new backline and eight personnel changes in total as Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus tries to minimise the effects of just a six-day preparation week.
Fresh squad
Erasmus opted for a more conventional 5-3 split between forwards and backs on the bench against England, having deployed his celebrated ‘Bomb Squad’ featuring seven forwards among the replacements at Murrayfield.
“The turnaround between the Scotland and England Tests is short, so we had to be smart in our selection to enable us to field a fresh squad with only six days between two tough Test matches,” said Erasmus after announcing his team.
“It obviously has a knock-on in effect in the sense that we’ve made 12 changes to the starting lineup, but we have been rotating our squad all season.”
This will be the first time South Africa have played England since they edged Steve Borthwick’s men 16-15 in a dramatic World Cup semi-final in France last year.
England, on a run of four straight defeats, are due to name their side later Thursday
South Africa (15-1)
Aphelele Fassi; Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Manie Libbok, Grant Williams; Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (capt); RG Snyman, Eben Etzebeth; Wilco Louw, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche
Replacements: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Elrigh Louw, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach, Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am
Coach: Rassie Erasmus (RSA)
